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town in Massachusetts
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Freetown is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,206 at the 2020 census.
Freetown is one of the oldest communities in the United States, having been settled by the Pilgrims and their descendants in the latter half of the 17th century. The town once included the city of Fall River (1659–1803), and a portion of Acushnet (1659–1815). The town celebrated its tricentennial in 1983.
Freetown is currently divided into two villages, which historically developed almost entirely independent from one another: Assonet and East Freetown. Freetown lies on an old 18th century road and along old Indian trails from Freetown to Boston. Freetown is home to the Freetown-Fall River State Forest, and Profile Rock and is located approximately 50 miles (80 km) from Boston.
Freetown is a part of the South Coast region of Massachusetts which encompasses the communities that surround Buzzards Bay (excluding the Elizabeth Islands, Bourne and Falmouth), Mount Hope Bay and the Sakonnet River.
Freetown is currently home to two Historic Districts of the National Register of Historic Places: the Assonet Village Historic District, and the East Freetown Historic District.
Freetown was first settled by the English on April 2, 1659, on the banks of the Assonet River, when the areas of Assonet and Fall River were purchased for 20 coats, two rugs, two iron pots, two kettles, one little kettle, eight pairs of shoes, six pairs of stockings, one dozen hoes, one dozen hatchets, and two yards of broadcloth from the Wampanoag Indians in an exchange known as Ye Freemen's Purchase. Its population slowly grew, and it existed as a Proprietary settlement of the Plymouth Colony until it was officially incorporated in July 1683. It remained a part of Plymouth Colony until that colony merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692. The town was the fifth municipal corporation established in Bristol County.
Throughout the 18th century, the town continued to grow and prosper. In 1747, through the Pocasset Purchase, the village of East Freetown (at the time called "New Freetown") was acquired from Tiverton, Rhode Island (which was being transferred from Massachusetts to Rhode Island). The townspeople fought against the Native Americans in King Philip's War and other local skirmishes. On May 28, 1778, during the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Freetown was fought in a part of the town that is now part of the city of Fall River.
In 1803, Fall River separated from the town, and incorporated as Troy. In 1815, a portion of the town was annexed by Fairhaven, which at the time controlled Acushnet, Massachusetts. That part of East Freetown remains part of Acushnet to this day.
Throughout the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, Freetown served as a very industrious area. Blast furnaces, fishing, textiles, and manufacturing all came to and left Freetown over time.
The population of Freetown remained around or under 2000 residents from the 1700s until 1950, and has expanded nearly fivefold since that time
One of the more well-known industries was N. R. Davis & Sons, a gun manufactory that provided many weapons for the Civil War.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 38.3 square miles (99 km2), of which land is 36.6 square miles (95 km2), and 1.7 square miles (4.4 km2) (4.41%) is water. The town is irregularly shaped, and is bordered by Berkley to the northwest, Lakeville to the northeast, Rochester to the east, Acushnet, New Bedford and Dartmouth to the southeast, Fall River to the southwest, and the Taunton River and Somerset to the west.
Within Freetown are various lakes, streams, and rivers. The more prominent are Fall Brook, the Assonet River and Long Pond which the Indians called Lake Apponequet. Also within Freetown are Breakneck Hill and Joshua's Mountain, site of Profile Rock. A vast area of land shared by Freetown and Fall River makes up the Freetown-Fall River State Forest.
Freetown is serviced by three exits on Route 24 (the "Fall River Expressway") in Assonet and one exit on Route 140 (the "New Bedford Expressway") in East Freetown. Assonet is also situated on Route 79, and East Freetown is situated on Route 18.
Freetown station in Assonet is served by the Fall River/New Bedford Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system.
Air transportation is provided locally by smaller aircraft in East Taunton, Berkley, and the regional airport in New Bedford. T.F. Green Airport in Rhode Island is the closest national-service airport, being approximately 35 miles from Assonet. Logan International Airport is approximately fifty miles from the town.
Freetown is governed in the traditional New England style with a Board of Selectmen overseeing day-to-day operations of the town and at least one town meeting per year to handle all major decisions including, but not limited to, budgets, by-laws, and zoning. In 2004, provisions for a Town Administrator were put in place, and in 2007, E. Winn Davis of Falmouth, Massachusetts was hired as the town's first administrator. Mr. Davis announced his retirement in February 2009, and former Middleborough Town Manager John Healey was hired as the interim town administrator in March 2009. He was replaced by former East Providence manager Richard Brown in January 2012, who left on June 30, 2014, with Mr. Healey returning on July 8.
The executive branch of town government is the Board of Selectmen, a popularly elected board made up of three members who are elected for terms of three years. One selectman is up for re-election every year. The current board is Trevor R. Matthews (2023), Jared Zager (2024) and Carlos Lopes (2025).
Selectmen currently serve terms of three years each, and those terms are staggered to ensure that only one member is up for re-election in any given year. Through the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the number of Selectmen was not set in law, and therefore varied, sometimes greatly. In 1988, Barbara Trainor became the first woman to hold the position of Selectman in Freetown, giving the town a record of 305 years of all-male leadership. After her defeat in 1991, no woman was again elected to the board until 2006.
In 2005, attempts to expand the Board of Selectmen to five members failed. Also failing in 2005 was an attempt to limit Selectmen to a total of two terms (or, six years). Attempts to expand the board to five members have been frequent in recent years.
The legislative branch of town government is the town meeting, which in Freetown is an open town meeting.
Various other officers, boards, committees, and commissions round out the variety of services provided to residents, including scattered municipal water, trash collection, fire, ambulance, police, education, recreation, voter registration, etc.
As of the Annual Town Meeting held on May 7, 2007, elections in Freetown are held on the first Monday in April.
The Seal of the Town of Freetown, Massachusetts is an official device used on documents originating from the town as well as on municipal equipment and buildings. It was devised in 1890 by the chairman of the Board of Selectmen, Col. Silas P. Richmond.
Along the top of the seal are the words "Town of Freetown, Mass." in all capital letters. Before the T in "Town" and after the final S in "Mass." are stars. Along the bottom of the seal are the words "Incorporated 1683" (also in capital letters). The image of a kettle over a cooking fire is meant to invoke Ye Freemen's Purchase, the agreement by which the lands now known as Assonet and Fall River were purchased by the English settlers from the local Wampanoag Indians.
Freetown is a part of Bristol County, Massachusetts. Where county governments in some states collect taxes or manage schools, these functions are carried out at the municipal level in Massachusetts. However, some minimal county government does still exist; especially in the court system.
The Bristol County Commission is made up of John T. Saunders (D-New Bedford), Paul B. Kitchen (D-Fairhaven) and John R. Mitchell (D-Fall River). The current District Attorney for Bristol County is Thomas M. Quinn III (D-Fall River). The sheriff of Bristol County is Paul Heroux (D-Attleboro).
As a small town, Freetown is often divided and attached to neighboring cities and towns to form representative districts for the Massachusetts House of Representatives. These divisions are made along precinct lines. The representative for Precinct I, which is in the 6th Bristol District, is Carole Fiola (D-Fall River). The representative for Precincts II and III, which are in the 8th Bristol District, is Paul Schmid (D-Westport).
The town as a whole is represented in the Massachusetts Senate by Michael J. Rodrigues (D-Westport). Freetown is a part of the 1st Bristol and Plymouth District. Likewise, the town as a whole is represented on the Governor's Council by Joseph Ferreira (D-Somerset), councillor for the 1st District.
Freetown is a part of Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District, and is represented in the United States House of Representatives by Jake Auchincloss (D. The town is also represented in the United States Senate by (Class II) Senator Ed Markey (D-Malden) and (Class I) Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge).
Typical of the town's nature, there are separate fire stations, post offices and libraries in Assonet & East Freetown. The main police & fire department headquarters building is halfway between the two. The town hall, however, is in Assonet.
Freetown's fire department provides 24-hour ambulance service to the town, and coverage to surrounding communities such as Lakeville. The town is situated between three major cities (Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford), each with their own hospitals:
Mental health hospitals in the area include Taunton State Hospital and Bridgewater State Hospital.
Freetown's state highways are patrolled by the Third (Dartmouth) Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police.
Municipal water is provided in some portions of Assonet by the City of Fall River, and in some parts of East Freetown by the City of New Bedford. Both villages are billed by the Freetown Water Commission. Sewer is not available in the town, except for a small portion of South Main Street that is serviced by a line running from Fall River for use by the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company's distribution center.
Electricity in Freetown is provided by Eversource, cable television by Comcast, and telephone service by Verizon.
Freetown provides elementary and secondary education to its population, but currently has no post-secondary institutions in the community.
As with most rural areas, Freetown had country schoolhouses dotting its landscape. In each village of the town, these one- and two-room structures served students in grades one through eight. As part of its Post-War improvements, the town constructed an eight-room schoolhouse known as Freetown Elementary School on a tract of land roughly in the geographic center of the town, with the cornerstone laid in 1949 and the school opening in September 1950. That central area now boasts a park with a miniature Fenway Park, the Freetown Police Station, the Freetown Senior Center, and Freetown Fire Department Station 3.
In the mid-1950s, Freetown and Lakeville formed a regional school district (see "Secondary" below). In 1972, the Freetown and Lakeville opened the George R. Austin Middle School, a 5–8 facility which closed in 2002 and was replaced by the Freetown-Lakeville Middle School. GRAMS has recently been converted into an intermediate school to cover grades 4 and 5 for both Freetown and Lakeville students.
High school students from Freetown initially travelled to several area cities and towns, including Fall River, New Bedford, and Dighton. As its agreements with surrounding cities and towns grew thin, the town recognized a need to develop secondary education programs of its own. In 1955, Freetown, Berkley, Carver, Lakeville, and Rochester formed a planning committee for a regional high school. Carver later dropped from the board, and the remaining towns voted. Freetown and Lakeville approved the school, while the others did not. On April 8, 1957, voters in Freetown and Lakeville approved construction of Apponequet Regional High School. Farm land on Howland Road in Lakeville was donated, and the school opened on September 21, 1959, to serve grades 7–12.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Freetown, Massachusetts”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.